My Little Monster's Favourite Words and Phrases

A while ago, I made a post entitled "What is it?", which was all about the Little Monster's new found curiosity in everything around her and the subsequent constant questions I was asked about every little thing she saw.

We've now moved on from "What is it?" to "Where did it come from?" She wants to know the origins of everything she sees. Its brilliant because she now knows where most of our food comes from, that wooden objects and paper are made from trees and that people are grown in their mummy's belly (I decided it was a little soon for her to learn how a baby comes to be in mummy's tummy!).

Another favourite word is "actually". She's become much more self confident and if I'm wrong about something, she'll correct me in a haughty tone. For example, if I say I think she looks tired and perhaps needs a little nap, she'll reply "I'm not tired at all, actually".

Nothing is "wanted" anymore. Everything is "needed". "I need a biscuit", "I need a hug", "I need a new magazine". A negative response leads to constant repetition of "But I need it Mummy, I need it". It seems that she has discovered that I will always do my best to give her anything that she needs but I won't necessarily give her everything that she wants. But she hasn't yet realised that I mostly know what she needs and that doesn't include new toys or chocolate or watching the DVD we only finished watching an hour ago.

Anything we do must be preceded with a countdown or a "Ready, Steady, Go!" This extends to leaving the house for any reason, going to the toilet and beginning a meal. This was a funny little habit that was evidence of her expanding imagination until yesterday when she decided crossing the road required a countdown. Every time the road was clear to cross over, she started counting. By the time she finished counting, a car was on its way towards us. This ended with a tantrum when I decided to pick her up and carry her across before she'd had a chance to start a fifth countdown. But after I explained why she couldn't keep doing this, she seems to have stopped doing it.

I love all her funny little mannerisms. I love that she plays little pretend games now and treats everything as an adventure. It makes everyday life that little bit more exciting!

Just an update...

We've now been at our new flat and in our new neighbourhood for a little bit more than six months. Me and the Little Monster have made some lovely friends and generally had a brilliant time living here. I'm a lot happier and more positive than I once was. 

The Little Monster seems to be close to mastering potty training. She can now wear her "Special Big Girl Pants" to go out and even uses a toilet rather than potty sometimes. Now we just need to tackle night time dryness and it will finally be over! 

We've almost entirely stopped using the pushchair. The Little Monster walks everywhere now and loves it! 

I have been using flashcards to teach the Little Monster her letters and its coming along really well. I would estimate that she knows about half of the letters and for quite a few she knows a word that begins with the letter. 

I let the Little Monster help me with some baking for the first time last week and we made some rather pretty and very delicious cupcakes. She really enjoyed sprinkling mini marshmallows and little chocolate stars on top and, of course, licking the icing spoon! 

She's changing so much all the time. Always saying new words, always making up little songs, always wanting to try something new. I'm so proud of her. 

As for me, my latest Open University assignment came back with some nice comments from my tutor and a reasonable score; not my best but also not my worst and definitely an accomplishment, albeit a small one! I am slightly disappointed with myself that I did not finish my End-of-Module assessment as I had planned to last week. I am thoroughly determined to have it submitted by Friday, a task made much easier by the Other Half being very busy this week. Typing out an essay is always put off when a cuddle on the sofa is the alternative!

Speaking of the Other Half, it was our third wedding anniversary last week. Its been three busy and exciting years. On a slightly less positive note, this acts as a reminder that our last holiday was three years ago!

I have abandoned the idea of a structured diet in favour of simply making the effort to eat healthier foods. I've also been exercising for 30-60 minutes per day and I really feel like its giving me more energy. 

So everything is, for the most part, going well. It's exciting to think that this time next year, everything will have changed even more. The Little Monster will be three and hopefully in nursery. I'll be nearly halfway through my Open University degree and hopefully back at work. Its going to be a good twelve months!

Spring Cleaning...with a Toddler

The Other Half has friends coming for the weekend, I have a friend over for lunch early next week and our letting agency wants to do a routine inspection later on next week. So I decided it was a good time for a Spring Clean. However, any housework takes double the time when my Little Monster is around. She also has a rather frustrating habit of making a mess wherever I've just finished tidying.

I began yesterday with the Little Monster's bedroom, by far the most disorganised room in the flat. I cleared toys, washed windows, hoovered the carpet and removed all items that didn't belong in there, such as a small collection of the Other Half's socks. I organised her doll's house and her mini kitchen and her finger puppet theatre. I stepped back to admire my work for a moment before going to have a sit down. A loud noise from the bedroom. I nervously returned to find the Little Monster sat giggling on her bed, looking down on the carpet where she had just emptied her picnic basket and shopping basket. I gave up and had a cup of tea.

Today has been slightly better. I managed to get the laundry, washing up and drying up done while she played happily her in her now messy bedroom. I had to resort to putting a DVD on so that I could clean the kitchen and I am very grateful that she sat quietly to watch it. After finishing the kitchen, I paused to read Little Monster a book so that she didn't feel ignored. Then I washed the windows, changed the bedsheets and swept the floors. Now it's mid afternoon and I just have to hoover the living room rug and my bedroom carpet and tidy the living room. Cleaning the bathroom has to wait until after Little Monster's bedtime as it will involve climbing into the bath in order to reach all the tiles. On moving in, I immediately loved those tiles. Lovely irregular sand coloured stone. I thought the little cracks and crevices gave it a nice textured look, made it look homely. I now utterly despise them. They are the most difficult surface I have ever had to keep clean and seem to be dirty again within hours of being scrubbed.

I'm pleased with my productive day. I'm hardly a domestic goddess so it's nice to see the flat tidy for once. I know its unlikely even to last until the Other Half's friends arrive on Saturday but hopefully it'll only need a little tidy up at that point. Now I'm going to have a bagel and a cup of tea before finishing off the big clean.

Two and a Half Years On

I can't believe my little monster will be two and a half at the end of this month. Two and half years since my identity, my priorities and my attitude to life completely changed. Only just over two and a half years since I last had a job. Well, a paid job anyway.

There is a reason I've suddenly gone all nostalgic. I have been offered a job interview. To be honest, I'm not all that confident that I'll get it and even if I do, I'm not sure the wage will be enough for me to accept it in any case. But if I do take this job, or any job for that matter, it'll put an end to what has been a wonderful time with my little girl. I know this has to happen and I am quite keen to start work again. Plus, I know my Little Monster  will love nursery. She's so independent that I'm almost in awe of her. She can have complete conversations. She has original ideas and an amazing sense of humour. She considers others and helps out where she can. She seems to have mastered the potty - it's been about a week since we had an accident. It turns out that the most common piece of advice I was given - "she'll get there in her own time" - was entirely true and now I shall probably pass it on to other parents going through the terror of potty training.

So now it's really time that I became a "productive member of society" again (there seems to be a large quantity of people who do not see raising children as productive...goodness only knows where they think the next generation of doctors, politicians and scientists will materialise from) and let someone professionally qualified take care of my Little Monster. I have found a lovely nursery to send her to. Freshly prepared meals, a lovely outdoor area, lots of creative activities and staff that seem to employ some common sense in their approach. The problem is that wonderful childcare facilities don't come cheap. So now I need to be earning a ridiculous sum of money to even be able to afford to return to work. I'm certainly not getting my hopes up!

My Funny Little Superhero

Last night, my Little Monster decided that her hooded towel resembled a superhero's cape and ran about the house making whooshing noises. It has to be one of the funniest things she's ever done. But this had led me to thinking about all the other funny things she has done. I shall give you a few examples and hope that you find them amusing as well: 

We attended sing and sign classes for two terms, starting a few months after Little Monster's first birthday. We enjoyed them immensely and they produced a few very funny moments. The first occurred during a rendition of that timeless classic "Three Currant Buns in the Baker's Shop". When  the teacher chose her to buy the second currant bun, my Little Monster started wiggling her bottom and holding her hands in the air. She made such a performance out of her part in the song that the entire class, teacher included, were in fits of giggles. Perhaps you had to be there to see it but I've never seen such a small child put on such a performance. She even had perfect rhythm! Another funny thing she used to do at Sing and Sign actually happened at almost every class. For a couple of songs, the teacher provided some instruments for us all to use. My Little Monster often made the decision halfway through the last song that instrument time was over and carried the basket around the class to collect them. Most of her fellow babies complied and if they didn't, she politely but firmly told them that it was tidy up time. Luckily my fellow mums just found this amusing, rather than a bit annoying. The final amusing incident at the Sing and Sign class was during a song about using the potty. We had just introduced the potty at home but with little interest from the Little Monster. However, when a potty was placed in the centre of the semi circle we usually sat in for the class, she decided it was an opportunity to give it a try. Promptly removing her jeans and nappy in one very swift movement, she sat herself down. I was then faced with a dilemma. I had been waiting for this wonderful moment to occur and I couldn't risk telling her off for this as it might well have been a huge setback. On the other hand, I couldn't really let her possibly produce something in front of the entire class. So I decided to delicately remove her from the potty whilst still praising her for trying. In fact, she received a round of applause from the mums. 

About a week ago we were travelling on the bus. Having already given her one biscuit, I refused giving a second. But rather than this resulting in the usual tantrum, she started wagging her finger at me, theatrically repeating my full name and firmly stating that I am very naughty girl. A mixture of giggles and looks of grim judgement from my fellow passengers caused my face to turn a rather fetching shade of scarlet. I'm going to delight in announcing that Mummy Loves Her in front of as many of her school mates as possible when she's a teenager. Sweet revenge. 

I have a huge flaw when it comes to giggling. I cannot help myself. Especially when I know I shouldn't. A few months ago, I had to fake a coughing fit during a church sermon. Most strangely, I struggle to keep a straight face whenever I witness a couple having an argument. I think it must have something to do with the ridiculous things people come out with when arguing. I think you can only appreciate how juvenile adult arguments can become if you're outside the situation. But I come to my point: my daughter has worked this flaw out. She knows that all she has to do is pull a funny face when I'm supposed to be quiet or serious and I'll burst into laughter. She finds this hilarious. She has also perfected an innocent facial expression so that if I try to apologetically explain that I am taking the situation seriously but my daughter just did the funniest thing, she looks around as if to say "Me? But I'm just a sweet little toddler. How could I have anything to do with it?" Which only makes me laugh all the more. 

I think she has the same mischievous sense of humour as the Other Half, which I happen to find hilarious. Its so lovely to watch her personality develop in this way. She loves making people laugh. She loves being centre of attention. It reassures me that she won't suffer with socially crippling timidity the way I did growing up. I used to be too shy to even tell a joke because if people laughed, I'd turn bright red with embarrassment. Luckily, this self conciousness is disappearing as I get older. Well, I'm not sure if its age or an effect of having such an outgoing daughter. All I know is that I'll now sing "The Wheels on the Bus" in public with no shame at all.  

The Endless Hunt For Employment

Today I have applied for four more jobs. One immediately told me that I'm unsuitable because I wouldn't be able to attend a training for a week at full time hours. I'm not sure who they think would apply for a part time job yet be able to attend a full time training week. It seems a little silly to me. Another applications has just been responded to basically telling me that I would have to be very flexible with hours. Which, of course, I can't do.

I suppose I must soldier on to find something suitable. In the meantime, I've also started the search for childcare professionals who I can trust to look after my Little Monster. In about an hour, I will be going to view a nursery that is rather handily about a ten minute walk from our home. It looks rather nice from the outside and I've heard some very good recommendations so fingers crossed that it lives up to the hype!

The Little Monster has behaved rather well today, given that she spent the majority of the morning strapped into her pushchair while I rushed about town getting important things done. She even stayed calm and happy when we had to wait in the Post Office for twenty minutes. Of course, a packet of Goodies Cheese Crackers helped to keep the peace. Just after finishing lunch, she disappeared into her bedroom, wearing a nappy, and returned a few minutes later wearing pants and carrying a potty full of wee. "I've done a wee wee in the potty so I'm wearing big girl pants", she stated very seriously and with shockingly good articulation. I told her I was very pleased and that she could keep the pants on until we go back out this afternoon. She smiled, nodded and disappeared back into her bedroom. Its been nearly an hour now and there have been no accidents. Its a small success but a success nonetheless. At least one of us has accomplished something today!

The In Laws are Coming

My post title would strike fear into the hearts of many women. Indeed, some of my mummy friends would regard a visit from The Mother In Law as favourably as a visit from the four horseman of the apocalypse. This is mostly because many Mother In Laws are overbearing, critical and, most annoyingly of all, believe that the sun shines directly from their little boy's backside. This is why I am forever thankful for my mother-in-law. We don't have all the same ideas when it comes to raising a child and she has snuck the odd spoon of ice cream into my daughter's mouth when I'm not watching but compared to some horror stories I've heard of monsters-in-law who delight in making their victim daughter in law feel as though she is absolutely the worst wife and mother who has ever lived, I think I'm pretty lucky. She also regularly offers that if the Other Half misbehaves, she'll sort him out. He'd like to laugh that off but I reckon nothing gets to a bloke like being told off by Mummy. Plus, she's fairly complementary about me as the woman bringing up her grand daughter and looking after her son.

News of the upcoming visit next week has, however, sent me into a frenzy of cleaning and organising. Its not that my house isn't usually clean and tidy, its just that my standards change drastically when I know that visitors are expected. My attitude changes from "That'll do" to "It must be perfect!". This may sound strange but the fact that the Other Half is busy getting ready for his amateur dramatics group's performance next week, which he is partially directing and therefore is at home much less than usual is actually rather handy. Don't misunderstand me, I love having him around but my productivity increases by a large degree if he's elsewhere. Of course, The Little Monster doesn't make things easy. I already attempted to make her room look less like some sort of Toy Bomb had just been detonated in there. But within minutes of my efforts being complete, she'd emptied the toy box all over the carpet again. My plan of action is to make sure she's really tired at 8:30 so that she'll go straight to bed and to sleep so that I can carry on with the Great Tidy Up. Added to this, I have a 1000 word essay to plan and write by Sunday evening. Wish me luck!